Friday, April 4, 2014

The long road to Domodossola.

As mentioned in my previous post I woke up several times during the morning of the 2nd before giving up on sleeping and headed out of my hostel as soon as I could. After checking out I walked the 10-15 minutes to Picadilly Train Station.

Leaving the quiet Manchester streets I purchased my ticket for the train to the airport. Straight onto the train I went and off we went. Arriving at the airport, I walked through it, up and down escalators and found my way to Manchester T3 where I checked in before going through security swiftly with no problem despite the amount of people in line.

Once past security I sat in the airport, waiting for my plane to arrive. I was a bit early for it but I was there. Finally after about a billion trips to the washroom I headed to board the plane. I had been able to get my backpack underweight and was hoping to be able to take it aboard the plane without having to pay the crazy fees that RyanAir charges. I was told that I would have to put my bag down below but not because it was too big or overweight but because they had reached the maximum of 90 bags allowed on the plane. Alright, I put my bag in the hold for free. Hoping my laptop would make it out alive. Down several stairs we went and onto the tarmac before having to climb the stairs onto the plane.

The flight was not long and I had a window seat but due to being above the wing I was unable to get too clear of a view of the parts of Europe we crossed low enough to see. RyanAir being a budget no frills airline has no entertainment screens so I read my kobo, finishing Bossy Pants by Tina Fey before we touched down in Milan Bergamo.

Milan Bergamo is about an hour outside of Milan so I caught the bus which only cost 5 euros and sat back to enjoy my new scenery. Slowly along the ride, I regretted my lack of Italian and tried to keep the thoughts from overwhelming me.

I arrived at Milan Central Train Station and headed inside. Struggling a little with the ticket machine I finally figured it out and headed to try and find wifi while I waited for my train. I had the worst luck with wifi, everywhere promising wifi let me down. All I wanted to do was contact Marianna and let her know that I was going to be arriving in Domodossola at 5:05 pm.

Having no luck, I boarded my train and sat back to wait the ride out. Italian buzzing around me, I read my book to constant queries of 'Pronto?' spoken when answering cellphones. I learned quickly from the man checking tickets that I forgot to validate my ticket. Bad me. I would do it next time, I promised.

The next problem came when the train stopped on the tracks and just sat there for about fifteen minutes. Everyone around sat calmly and soon we were back moving past scenic little villages, mountain quarries and beautiful churches. Everything seemed to be alright until the train stopped, there was a hush of Italian and everyone got up and started to get off the train. Hello!? What is going on?! I thought, following the crowd and found the ticket checker with his beautiful face and his beautiful English and asked what we were doing. I got a quick, "The train is broken. Get off and get on the next one."

Welcome to Italy, I followed the crowd under the tracks through a tunnel and rose onto the other side. Learning that we were now in Somma Lombardo. I waited quietly for the next train to arrive which would be in another fifteen minutes. Heading around the other side of the small train station to check out the other side I took a few more photos.

The train on the left broken and beat and the train on the right rushing to take us all the way to Domo. I happily got on, found a seat and settled in for the next portion of the trip.

Finally arriving in Domo, an hour after I was supposed to arrive, I wandered around the terminal trying to seek out Marianna. Not seeing her I went across from the station and attempted to use the phone I found there. No luck. Into the terminal I went again, wandering and found another phone. No luck again. Trying not to cry I headed outside and sat on a bench the Italian alps surrounding me in beauty but I could not see it as I was full on unease and worry about what to do. Turning on my data roaming I quickly texted Shawn that I had not died in a horrible crash and was safe (sort of) in Domo before facebooking Marianna. She was quick to respond and I was full of relief.

They picked me up and whisked me through the streets of Domo to where I would be staying. I happily welcomed my room and the comfort that I was not alone and Marianna spoke English, as did her mother and father and her daughter.

I sat and had a lovely dinner with them before heading for bed. So exhausted after that day. I survived my day of travels.